I'm sorry about the delay, and that this chapter is a bit shorter than my usual (which is probably around 2.2 K). The next few ones should be bigger than my usual, though.

Today is my first day of class! I'm so excited. :3

Adulting is not nearly as hard as most people make it out to be. I'm mostly pissed that they're aren't really any real supermarkets in Boston. Well there is one that is horribly overpriced, so I left it. :(

Well, I still found a place to get butter, cheese, eggs and bread, and that's really what I needed, so I'm good. :)

The Boston Public Library is pretty fucking awesome, too.

Chapter Fifty Two - Christmas Miracles, Part One

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee!" A blonde-haired, Elle-seeking missile smacked into me, nearly piling me on top of Gray, who had the misfortune of being right , behind me.

"Hey Lucy!" I gasped, righting myself. She and her parents had been extremely busy, and had unfortunately missed the last few birthday parties (though Jude had kindly sent over enough payment for Erigor's first month of rent, as a birthday present).

"Guess what guess what guess what guess what?!" Lucy shouted, jumping up and down.

"What?" I asked.

"Jeez, didn't anyone ever tell you to watch where you were going?" Gray shouted at Lucy.

Lucy growled at Gray, who (because she hadn't come by) she hadn't met yet. "At least I'm not a pervert, naked boy!"

"Gahh!" Gray yelled, grabbing at his clothes. Damn, I guess the electric cards stopped working again. "Still, watch where you're going you…"

Laxus put a hand on Gray's shoulder. "I'm gonna stop you right now, Gray. She's way out of your league."

"Yes, yes I am!" Lucy sniffed haughtily, though it was slightly ruined when she turned to me and asked, "Am I out of anyone else's league, Ellie-nee?"

"W…what?" Gray cried.

Laxus shrugged. "Whether you've got a crush on her or you want to fight her…she's out of your league, kid."

"What? She's got to be a year younger than me! How can she be stronger than me? She's just a weak little girl!"

"What was that?" a voice hissed.

Ohhhhhhh. Scary!Lucy, at seven years old.

This will be interesting.

Lucy started raising her magical aura, and Gray, who was right next to her, started having trouble standing.

"Lucy, stop scaring Gray," I told her.

She stopped. "But I just started!" she pouted.

"Just…started…" Gray wheezed.

"You and Gray will get along, and behave. No fighting him!" I told her, leaning down. I whispered in her ear. "Your dragon will fight him for you."

She backed away. "Really?"

I nodded.

She giggled. "Alright." She turned and hugged Gray, who stayed frozen. "It's nice to meet you, Gray-nii!"

And then she left and trotted off to the others, even though she still hadn't said what she wanted to.

"What…just happened?" Gray stammered.

Lyon burst into laughter, unable to hold it in. "I don't know, but that was hilarious! Oh, that was absolutely amazing! Hahahahaha!"

Gray punched him. "Shut up, asshole!"

Lucy's news was revealed later that day, before Christmas dinner, when she realized that she hadn't told me the news and tackled me from behind.

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee, I can open six gates! Can I have Phoenix's key now?" she practically screamed.

Oh. Well then.

"You can," I said. "But on one condition."

She stopped vibrating with excitement and stared at me. "Yeah?"

I smiled. "How do you feel about making a Christmas miracle?"

We teleported directly into the castle.

Toma was sitting on the floor, playing with Hisui. He looked up as we arrived. "Ella?" he asked.

"Hey," I said, smiling. "Lucy can open Phoenix's gate."

Toma perked up immediately, and turned to smile at Lucy. "Lucy Heartfilia, thank you for your service to this country."

"Okay!" Lucy said happily. "I just do what Ellie-nee asks of me!"

"Do you remember Ame?" I asked her.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, she was super nice!"

I wandered over to Hisui, who raised her arms in the universal sign for 'up'. Scooping her into my arms, I sat down on the couch. "Ame nearly died giving birth to Hisui. But I managed to find a way to keep her in stasis, by putting her in a giant lacrima."

Lucy nodded. Even at seven years old, she could keep up pretty well. "So we're going to use Phoenix to heal her?"

"We're going to use Phoenix and Crater," I corrected. "I don't want you to summon anyone right now (or even later); you need to save your strength for Phoenix. I'll be summoning Crater."

"Have you ever summoned a Celestial Spirit?" Lucy asked.

"Once," I grimaced, and started taking off my magical cuffs. "But I did it with my cuffs on, and it was Loke."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, you probably shouldn't have started off with a Zodiac gate, much less the leader."

I shrugged. "Crater is a silver key, so it should be easier."

I put Hisui down on the couch and pulled out Phoenix's and Crater's keys, turning to Lucy. "Can you requip Corvus's key?"

She nodded and requipped it, handing it to me.

"Corvus, Phoenix," I said.

There was a glow of light and both of them shimmered into view.

"Thanks for coming out on your own," I said. "You guys know the situation?"

They both nodded, and Corvus pulled out a tonic. "You should use this. For Crater," he clarified, handing it to me.

I nodded, and turned to Toma. "Well…lead the way."

It seemed to hit him then, that he was getting his wife back, and his eyes filled with tears as he picked up Hisui. "Thank you," he said, leading us through a series of hallways.

Lucy gaped the whole time. "Ellie-nee, this place is so awesome!" she whispered to me.

Toma, who was in front of us, chuckled a little before carrying on.

He opened a door and led us into a room where Ame lay, crystallized inside a lacrima.

"She looks like Snow White," Lucy said. She turned, smiling, to Toma. "Maybe all you have to do is kiss her!"

It's times like this that I regret showing them Disney.

Corvus (who had been following us, along with Phoenix) leaned down and lightly grasped Lucy by the shoulders. "Princess, I'm afraid that it will take some more extensive healing than that." Lucy seemed to pout a bit at that. "But when we're done healing, he can kiss her," Corvus continued, which made her perk up.

Wow, she has him wrapped around her finger. That's adorable.

"Yay!" Lucy yelled, spinning around.

"Alright, Phoenix, are you ready?" I asked him.

He nodded, and vanished back to the Celestial World.

Lucy calmed herself down, becoming serious.

I took Crater's key and took a deep breath. "Open, Gate of the Cup. Crater!" There was a ding as Crater popped into existence, and I was reminded of Beauty and the Beast.

What's with all the fairy tales, today?

"Hello, Miss Elle! It's an honor to be your acquaintance!" The cup, in a shape of a goblet with a face on it, hopped around. "I've heard so much about you!"

"Hi, Crater," I said. "We're going to need your help healing. Alright with that?"

"Yes, Miss Elle, we'll fix this lady up lickity splickit!"

"What?"

"In a jiffy!"

Cups are weird.

I poured the tonic into Crater and handed Crater to Toma, who shifted Hisui to one side so he could also hold the cup ready for me.

I walked over to stand above Ame, and took a deep breath, before turning to Lucy. "You ready?"

She nodded. "Open, Gate of the Firebird! Phoenix!"

There was a shimmer and a wave of heat as Phoenix appeared. "Woah!" he breathed. "Awesome! I feel great!"

I snorted a bit and turned to Ame, and the whole room stilled.

And then I was cutting the lacrima open and pulling her out.

I kicked the lacrima off of the altar it was on and placed Ame there instead. Phoenix was already next to me, healing power coming off of him in waves.

As I moved to get Crater from Toma, Phoenix placed one hand on Ame's head and the other on her lower stomach.

Toma handed me the cup and I turned to Ame, slowly pouring the Celestial tonic down her throat, both the tonic and Crater glowing as I did so. I gently massaged her throat to make sure the potion went down.

Slowly, Phoenix stopped his healing, and we all looked at Ame, who was nice and relaxed, her chest moving up and down steadily. "Done," he said quietly.

"That was anticlimactic," Corvus muttered.

I hit him. "You never say that. As soon as you say that, problems arise, and it starts to become unanticlimactic."

"Couldn't you just say 'climactic'?" Phoenix asked.

"Shut up!"

Ame yawned and began to sit up. "What…happened?"

"You've been asleep for awhile, darling," Toma said quietly, walking up to her with Hisui.

"Is…is that Hisui?" Ame's voice wavered.

Toma nodded, handing Hisui over to her mother. "There were complications during your pregnancy, and there was no way to heal you." His voice cracked. "Elle put you in a lacrima, in order to push the problems off to the future, for when she could get a special healer for you."

Ame's eyes watered as she turned to me. "Thank you, Elle," before turning towards her daughter. "Hello, my darling little girl…"

I don't know how she did it.

I don't think I would be able to do it.

Giving birth, and then missing over the first year of my child's life? I would be ranting and sobbing.

Ame is a good person.

Or a better person than me, at least.

"What do you say, Hisui?" Toma asked her.

"Fank you for giving Mama!" Hisui said. "Fank you, Ellie-ne!"

I leaned forward and hugged the little girl. "You're welcome, Hisui. Don't forget to thank Lucy-nee, either."

Hisui leaned over to Lucy and waved her arm. "Fank you, Lushi-ne!"

Lucy beamed at the little girl. "You're welcome, Hisui-hime! Merry Christmas!"

We waved goodbye and closed the Celestial Gates, and then I grabbed Lucy and took her back to the guild.

But I had one more stop to make.

Okay, so generally, young children cannot pronounce the 'th' sound. It's generally replaced by an 'f' sound, the same way that 'r' is usually replaced by 'w'. Another thing extremely young children do is forget certain words. The original sentence would be 'thank you for giving me Mama', but children tend to forget the 'me' at that age.

I also put up a different poll about shipping on my FANFICTION profile page. Check it out!

So...what's the next stop going to be? Any guesses?